Do we ever get to a place where we don’t have a next step?  I know – death would be one answer.  But death is a little on the drastic side.  There has to be some place between here and there that we can get to that doesn’t require a next step.

Have you ever looked at life as one big set of transitions right after the other?

I was driving across town the other day and a good friend of mine entered into my thoughts.  He is a worship pastor in a different state.  As I was going over the Porter Street Bridge the thought about him moving came to mind.  I wondered if he would be leaving where he is… How long has he been there… What would cause him to leave?  I don’t know why I had the thought.  So I called him.

Guess what!  He is praying about a move. 

I called him again today to let him know I am praying for him and his wife. 

After that phone call, I sat there and thought about all of the times I moved, changed positions, churches, jobs, etc.  I wondered. “Why all the change?”  Even at my job today – taking that “next step” seems to be a topic of conversation that so many talk about.  Changing from one job to another within the company. 

What do we expect to find with each change?  Peace? Fulfillment? Less stress? The perfect job? Money? The perfect ministry? The perfect church?

Is it an issue of contentment? Calling? God’s leadership? Our impatience with a situation? Or all of the above?

I often wonder what it would be like to be in a position where I would not have to face (or want to face) the decision, “Should I stay?” or “Should I go?”  (sounds like a song… who sang that?) I also wonder why do some people get to have a job or ministry and never “feel” like God is moving them.

I know that there are times when a move or change is the right thing.  It’s the God thing.  But sometimes I wonder if maybe… just maybe the change that is in need of being made is something that should be internal rather than an external change – transformed from the inside out.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You’ll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2, The Message).